The Game of the lost
by underthedarkness
Summary: A fairy is trapped forever into a room. she has lost her wings and gained magic..at a price. Forced to lure men into her grasp she lives in a terrible existance. Can a certain redhead free her?
1. Seduction

**The Game**

"Do you wanna play a game?" She says sultry-like, walking into the white room.

The room has two chairs and a table in the middle. The corner houses a black piano and the opposite wall has a room has no windows and only a single door.

She closes the door and lets it dissapear into the rooms wall.

"Well do you?" She says to the man in the right chair.

"Yes I'm in the mood for a game." He says.

"Dont you want to know what the game is first?" She reaches into her dress and pulls out four aces letting them fall to the floor. Taking off her top hat and rests it onto the table taking in the image of the man. He was different. He had long red hair that he wore in spikes and wore a black suit and leather shoes. His eyes were the color of green emeralds.

"Most men like to know what thier getting themselves into."

She sits atop the table letting the slit in her dress reveal some of her legs.

"Name to me your favorite game."

He folds his legs and leans back in the chair getting comfortable.

"I am not most my dear, I like surprises and I'm not partial to any one game."

"Well that explains why your here Not many people come to visit me anymore...They all go insane from meeting me or hearing my music." She lifts her hat off of the table and a dove flies out from under the brim. Walking over to the piano she opens it and pullsout a deck of cards and a bottle of wine. Leaving it and returning to the table sitting down she pulls out two glasses fron under the chair, and turns toward the man.

"Do you drink?"

He stands and walks towards the woman. "I'd love a drink, but what to?"

"To insanity.." And she slyly adds "To the game."

"Of which I suspect my match." He takes a swig from his glass  
"Shall we get underway?"

"Ah yes the game is simple. It is the game of life. The consequences are if you lose I win your heart. If you win I am freed from this prison."  
She drinks the rest of her glass and makes her way over to the piano.  
"Are you ready? Any questions?"

He joins her at the piano inches from her face.  
"Only one, is there a bad out come to this game?" He asks smirking and cocking his eyebrow.

"The only thing bad is the game istelf. Or if I win your heart of course and you are forced to be my marionette. I'm ready are you?"

She takes her place at the piano and lifts her hat over her head in position to play in a very peculiar manner.

"If youd be so kind to sit in the middle of the room" She turns around and gestures with the hat hand the table that was in the middle of the room. The table and other chair having dissapeared in thin air.

A calm double take confirms the odd trick. He gives the woman a quizzical, interested glance and takes his seat at the table.

"Oh so you see the table is still there?" She smirks at the promise of being freed "Thats a first. Well lets begin!"

She throws her hat into the air and screams begining to play maniacally. A form of canon and jazz smashed together. The hat burst into cards surrounding the man. Circling him and enveloping him in a cyclone.

"What's your name?" The cards ask pleadingly.

"Should I answer them?" He yells to the woman over the sound of her musical mania.

"It's all a part of the game my dear sir, and please dont shout I can hear you just fine!" With a wave of her hand the cards shift and change direction repeating the question.

"Axel" He says to the cards

"Axel..Lexa...Axel...Lexa" The cards repeat.  
"Such a good name different for sure not another stephen or nhoj. Do you like the seasons? Life? What about music?"

"I like the seasons and life, music is second to most." He replies thinking what an odd start to a game.

"Oh we're only getting started." The cards change and stack up in a line circling him and making a single wall of cards, projecting the image of a woman beckoning to him.

"Will you follow the pleasure or stay and enjoy the company?"

The music suddenly stops and the woman walks out of the cards and straddles his lap.

Blood running fast, but nerves calm he leans around the woman whispering in her ear and says:  
"I think I'll stay, I get the feeling there's better pleasure than that of the flesh in this game."

The woman lifts her hand and strokes his chin nodding slightly and simply dissapears.

"Do you wish to continue?"

"Yes please the man replies , slightly red in the face.

The woman begins playing a slightly softer tune at a more bearable level. A more familiar song called moonlight sonata.

"I assume you to be the first not to ask my name..thats to be figured as a man like you cares not for the flesh but perhaps for the mind. Correct?"

"Yes indeed." He replies "And as far as for your name mystery and trai helps for a stronger bond. I assumed you would tell me as you wish."

"Don't lie you know my name. For you've just spoken it. My name is mystery. But onto the game."

She cojures her hat and throws it onto the table. With a loud thunk! It lifts up to reveal a chess set with people instead of pieces.

"So now the game is chess?" He asks.

"Or checkers if you wish." She clunks her hat back onto the pieces and they turn red and white.

"Checker is fine with me thank you." He says turning an intrigued eye to the small colored people on the board.

The woman leaves the piano keys playing and changing on thier own will. She walks over to the table and sits on the edge.

"Would you like to go first or would you rather I? Dont worry you wont hurt them just point to where you want them to walk."

"Ladies first" He replies with a chivalrous wave of his hand.

She chooses the left corner piece and takes the standard two square jump as her first move.  
"Your turn. What is your schooling fo choice?"

"Schooling?"

"Of course! Mathematics, courtesy, English, Ballroom, Dance, Woodworking, English, and etcetera."

"Middle piece, upper left jump and my favorite lessons would be english and history. What of you?" He says as said piece moves into the upper left square in its front.

"My favorite was ball room dancing and herbology" She moves her next piece in anticipation of his next move. "Middle piece step catty corner left."

"Right end piece to upper left front." The piece moves as he turns to the woman. "Mystery, if I may call you by it, how does a woman like you come to be able to do all these things?"

"It's been forever since I've been asked that. I do remember dying on a rainy day and waking up here. I don't dream or need sleep. Nor do I require food or drink. I am merely existing now. For this room the piano and the men found wandering here are all I have known for a long time. My magic has been taught to me by this top hat. I found it inside of the piano one day. The window and my wings dissapeared that day...never to return. I wish them both back for they gave me comfort and warmth along with color. But with my magic I lead those who have strayed from thier path to be my company. And I play this game. Don't ask why because I'm afraid that is one question I just can't answer. They have gone insane and become my puppets to lead others into thier own destruction. Middle piece capture white piece." The red piece walks in and kills the whit piece having it crumble to dust and ruse into the air.

"How lovely..**.**" He says now staring intently at her. "Die one day, control miniature people the next...Well I LIKE IT!" Then he frown letting it sink in a bit. "Not a very nice existance though I'm sure, left middle piece capture red , anything I can do to brighten your time? Or am i already doing that by being here in this game? he says forming a small friendly grin as the white piece beats the red to dust.


	2. Greed and murder

**The Game**

"Well considering this is the first game in a long time, it is a great help for the boredom suffered here. Red corner piece forward corner."

"It's your turn now" She says with a smile as the music turn to beethoven's Ode To Joy.

"Upper right pieceupper jump front" He says as the piece takes place at the end of the white line.

"Why do you have them jump?" Mystery asks curiously. "Upper left piece forward corner. They don't seem to like it much. Do you like killing things?"

Axl gives a meaningful look. "Why not? He replies. Life is life, and they are no more alive than I, however I am not them. Therefore if they must work harder or die to fit my desires so be it. It is nature to kill, only friends and loved ones hold superior value to myself." He says taking a breath to let it sink in.

"An easy way to see it is a chain." He makes motions with his hands putting one under the other as he say the names. "Loved ones-me-them. All equal yet each think each other expendable."

"Seems simple to me."

"Indeed."

"Then take the rest of my pieces. If you were smart then you would have already seen this isn't checkers, but a war. Take a look at what thier wearing for example."  
With wave of her hand a large magnifying glass appears at his end of the table.

Axel peers down through the glass at the people on the board through electric green eyes with a shiver of surprise. He sees them wearing 1800's style clothing and the two "pawns" in front holding drums.

"Yes I assume you know what war this is then, yes? You may have been versatile seeing through my moves but you've killed thousands in the process. This is the civil war." She exclaims.

"Yes I see, such a fun conflict interesting..." He replies smoothly having seen he was bested.

"Well I guess that you've managed to fail this test then." She sighs "Oh well.. you still have another chance." She waves the war away from the table with a flash and looks into the man's eyes searching for his greatest desires.

Sensing he was being analyzed, he returns the look to her. Were it not for the intense mysticism clinging to her artful figure, her thoughts would be easier to find.

_Aha an opening.. Some of his greatest desires are within my reach. Lust may not win him over but he has a great desire for wealth and accomplishment. This may be his greatest weakness but also his greatest ally. _

Mystery begins to think about how to use this to her advantage when suddenly it comes to her..the cards! The king and queen never fail her but this might be a special case.

Now on the edge of anticipation, Axel watches warily as Mystery began to weave around the cards again. Could this be the final round?

Mystery begins to stack them into a house of cards. "Axel would you mind helping me? I can never seem to get them into the right places."

"Having never built one myself, I don't see where I'd be of use. but nothing ventured nothing gained." He said, now laying the thin cards into delicate stacks.

"Do you ever wish to be a king Axel? They get all sorts of suitors, plenty of wealth, and a kingdom to call thier own" She says seductively.

"Not a king for reasons as such, I wish to be of importance, of difference, someone to be remembered like heroes of old, though villians may be heroes at times. The two are quite the same once you step out of the realm of opinion." He replies a slight sternness in his gaze.

"I can get you all that you need and more Axel." She wavces her hands over the cards setting them up perfectly with the king and queen and joker at the top. The cards shiver for a second and become a miniature castle with a hologram of Axel and his friends Roxas and Xion with him at the top pier. "Isn't this your dream?"She says voice dripping in venom and lust.

"Yes." He replies "Yes it is however that is not how I wish to obtain it, I'm sorry my dear, but I must decline. When I achieve my dream it will be because of my own work and toil. IT will not be because sombody gave it to me." He threw the words back as of he thought them deadly." Luck may be the prize of some he thought but he'd be damned if he accepted such a proposal.

Slightly offended with those words spat in her face the image melts from the tabel leaving only the cards to be blown down. "well.. What if I were to give you all ability to do so? No disease to befall you..Nothing to stand in your way..Perhaps your own magic like those of the fallen heroes? Try on this hat." With a wave of her hand a hat much like her own appears floating in front of him. A card tucked into the side. "Just a taste of what may come."

"My abilities will be of my own doing as well." He says. "But, can't hurt to try new things." He finished and accepted the hat , slightly larg yet well fit he topped it on his head and instantly felt a gust of energy through his veins.

"Yes feel the power! Isn't it soothing and so invigorating? Don't you wish to keep it for your own? The power of the ancients could be yours. Health of a horse, strength of an ox, the magic of charm..." She tempts.

Invigorating though it felt he couldn't fit the frame of power not earned, felt it wrong, and doing that he tossed the hat from his head."No thank you Mystery." He said shortly and handed the hat back to her promptly as normality returned.

Mystery took the hat and plucked the card from the brim letting it dissolve and dissapate into the air. Feeling bitter and desperate she got another brilliant idea. She began toying with her hair and spinning it pulling a few strand out as she did so. Taking them she began twisting them into a thin line and stretching them out until she made it into a gun from her era... a colt rifle. "It seems you have bested me. Take this as a gift for your commendment. You can even kill me if you wish. It will b e of no penalty of course. after all I am... your _enemy_."

Axel accepted the rifle, turning it over in his hands. "Wasn't the prize for winning the chance to free you and stay with you?"

"Yes it is, but I have found you have a liking for killing things, however the game isn't over. Not 'till the piano stops playing."

"My dear, after having met and spent time with someone as interesting as you, I would never dream of such a thing." He replied warmly, holding the rifle aside as a cane. "I like your style and I dont mind your power, the game isnt over yetso lets move to the next phase shall we?"

"Just as well, you would have looked a little funny shooting a gun with no bullets or powder." She walks a little closer and takes of het hat setting it down upon the table. "I can't think of another game to play...Wnat to set up some dominoes and review our failures and successes?"

Red in the face he accepts and takes a seat down at the table again.


	3. In which the game ends

**The Game**

Mystery lifts her hat off of the table with a sigh of defeat and takes out her last game. She opens the box and sets out dominoes of silver and gold.  
"Would you like to say why you came here?" She say setting up three dominoes in a row.

"Nothing more than curiousity." He says coolly.

"Please help set up the dominoes with me so we can knock them all down and finish this game. How did you get here?" She inquires.

"Walking...what's the impotance?"

"Just curious. Some men just find themselves here from the middle of thier dreams." She continues setting up dominoes slightly wondering why he wouldn't join her in the fun of making the design. "I've tempted you with many things..greed..seduction..accomplishment...fame.. and yet, you never gave in. You must have a very strong heart."

Axel ignored her last statement and began to wonder himself. Why he was here. Had he just been bitten by curiousity? Was it a beckoning.. a calling from the darkness? Impulse maybe.

"A better question would be_** how**_ you found this place. For it lies with in the deepest of secrets and the darkest of mens hearts."

"I guess I'll ask you that Ms. Magic. How **did **I find this place?" He said calmly.

"Why would I ask you if I already knew?" She said looking deep into his heart. "Mayhaps it was just a mistake."

"An amazing coincidence?"

"Perhaps." She says finishing up the dominoes. "Now...Why didn't you help me with these again? It wouldn't have hurt you." Se says slightly irratated.

"You're obviously a leading woman. Does it displease you to make a set?" He came back sharply.

"No it's just not fun to play the game by yourself. I've done it several times and it's boring...Oh well." Mystery flips her hair back and puts her hat on. "All you have to do is knock over the dominoes and tell me if they're silver or gold."

"And thus puts the game in motion." He gave a small shove on the last dominoe, sending them all into a grand pattern of a golden fluer de lis.

She smiles at the formation and turns the dominoes into beautiful butterflies. Mystery then turns to Axel and smiles like a cheshire. "I'm free...I'm finally free! You are the first to have beaten me!" She runs to the other side of the table and hugs him tight. Mystery conjures a bottle of blood reds wine and two glasses and begins to pour them. She hands one to Axel and says quickly, "To what shall we toast?"

"To your new found freedom." He says back, still not quite grasping what was happening.

"Huzzah!" She sips her wine and reprimands herself for not explaining earlier. "You see when all this began it was told to me by the hat that if I was ever beaten by a pure heart I would be freed from this prison. As my past life I was a horrible witch of a fairy, always causing trouble,  
and mischevious happenings. I didn't want to tell you but I can't quite lie as you can see.." She gets up from her slightly kneeling postition and stands up righting her hat. "Are there any more questions?"

"Yes what now?" He says, with a look of interest.

"Well the second I yank this hat" She points to her head "Off of my head we're free to go home and I return to my original form."

"What a revelation that will be!" He replied, now abuzz with interest in the moment.

She walks over into the middle of the room whispering an incantation that has failed many a time and lifts her arms. Then she takes off her hat. The hat gets bigger and turns into a cocooon of cards swirling around her faster and faster. The piano coming to a high crescendo.

Axel begins to get worried with the frenzy starting around him. He begins to shout at the cocoon for mystery to come out.  
"Are you okay! Mystery!"

Then suddenly the cards burst open to reveal a tiny fairy with large quadracolored wings. She is still wearing the top hat. Magic seemingly long gone from it.

"Thats fascinating" He says, watching the newly sprouted wings move and flutter about.

"Yes fascinating, I should be more schoked but with everything else I've witnessed this evening seems a great explanation."

"I've not quite got a hold of this new..I mean my old form. So what do you want to do now? We are no longer slaves to this horrid room." As she says this the window opens up from the wall and the door flings open.

"I'd say theres nothing to ask, so much as what are we to do now? Just leave?"

"We could do that. We could go our seperate way now, or we could simply stay together. This old hat has a bit of magic left in it. I would like to gift you with the hat itself but I'm afraid its much too small for you. We can use it to achieve one of your greatest dreams."

"Yess, I suppose it is. WEll one wish you know it won't be for one of my dreams nor the means to achieve it. So what do you think it is I am wishing for?" He says with a sly smirk.

"To get out of this room?" She guesses.

"That and for my prize..." He stands and walks over to the woman hovering from the ground, petite yet sized, not what he expected a fairy to resemble. "mystery, would you be so kind as to accompany me throughtout my ventures and climb to achieve ment as my friend..or perhaps more?"

"Of course! That sounds much better then what I had planned!" She flies around the room in her excitement.

At that, Axel took Mystery's hand and motioned toward the door, ever close. "What's next, my dear?"

"Tell me Axel where did you come from?" She says with a clear intent on taking him anywhere.

"Twilight Town."

"Twilight it is then!" She lets go of his hand and flies around him as quickly as possible making sure he was coated in the magical dust.  
"Are you ready?"

She grabs his hand and steps into the darkness ready for anything that may soon come.

"I'm ready." He says and steps forward with her.

* * *

A/N So how did you like it? Its the first thing that I finished so far! YAYZ! But a great portin of thanks goes to my boyfriend for being the part of Axel! YAY!

Axel walks in**

"Can you take these puppet strings off of me now?"

"No."

"Please leave a review so she gets these things off of me!"


End file.
